Jealousy is Not a Samurai Trait
by Totally-Out-Of-It
Summary: Morgan watches Reid get hit on at the bar and realizes that no one appreciates the genius's ranting and brilliance the way he does... so he reacts in a way that is only natural. He chases the girl away and picks Reid up instead.


A/N: Written for peanutmeg after the prompt "Morgan getting jealous over Reid being hit on at a bar but pretending he was just being protective" was suggested.

* * *

The condensation from his beer bottle had formed a nice ring or three on the countertop between lifts to his lips. As he stared at them, Morgan smeared them all together with the base of his bottle. Just another night out, just like every other night, except...

"No, no, really. They filmed it first entirely in Japanese, not English, which is great because the supporting cast were all Japanese, not to mention the legend itself is Japanese. The movie played it up with special effects and CGI and mythical creatures, but it's based in truth."

"Really? It actually happened?"

"Well the real Oishi Kuranosuke Yoshio was a samurai guarding the head of the Asano family, yes. He was inspired by the works of Yamaga Soko, an influential theorist who wrote a number of works on the warrior spirit and what it meant to be samurai. I've read some of his work, it's actually quite interesting, the lifestyle they believed in. But Asano didn't have a half-British ward, though. And Kira was actually over 60 at the time of Asano's death. Oishi wasn't imprisoned after the death either. He actually pretended to lose all care for the future and visited houses of ill repute."

"Man. I wish we could lose all care for the future."

"That would be nice, wouldn't it? But secretly Oishi was just luring Kira into a false sense of security. A year after Asano's death-"

Morgan shook his head and let out a rough sigh. Spencer Reid was sitting in the seat beside him, chatting up a beautiful young girl who leaned forward to listen to him, curled her hair around her finger, bit her lip, and kept running her hand up and down her own thigh as though she was intermittently cold.

And there went Reid, not even noticing. She'd started Reid's rant with a comment about the new movie 47 Ronin with Keanu Reeves and how his love for the main girl was beautiful, how he said he'd find her across a thousand lifetimes, and then an offhand comment about the two consummating their relationship.

If Morgan had been the target of her affections, he would have had her ripping his clothes off at her place by this point even if he hadn't seen the movie – which he had because Reid dragged him to see it, coincidentally, just the day before. Reid was oblivious to her desires though and was just enjoying himself by presenting the factual events of the legend.

Maybe it was the three drinks Reid had had, though, because was the kid always this ignorant of people's attraction to him?

The girl, a brunette, leaned further forward for her next pick up line and placed her hand on Reid's knee, but before she could say anything, Morgan's hand was on Reid's shoulder and he was leaning into their conversation.

"Hey, something wrong Morgan?" the genius asked. Morgan shook his head. The girl pulled her hand back.

"No. Nope. Just checkin out which fine young lady you're chatting up. Hey, Hunny, mind if I ask how old you are?" Morgan asked, noticing that he kept thinking of her as a 'girl and not a 'woman'. Now that he thought about it, she did look young under her makeup.

"Actually, I do," she said with a sniff, looking Morgan up and down.

Morgan shrugged. "Alright. I understand. New question. You old enough to drink?"

That apparently drew the line for her, because she gasped, affronted, and quickly took herself and her clutch off the stool beside Reid and into the crowd of the bar. Morgan shrugged again and sat back. So she was young, nothing to be ashamed of. Reid was young too. Not THAT young, but closer to the girl's age, no doubt.

"What was that for, Morgan? She wasn't even drinking." Reid looked up and smiled at the bartender as they brought him a drink with fruit in it.

"No, but it's a bar, Reid, at half past eleven. She shouldn't be in here." Morgan nodded when the same bartender held up another bottle for him. "Anyway, it was getting hard to watch."

"What?"

Another girl was sizing Reid up from down the bar and Morgan couldn't use the age excuse to get her away.

"Nothin. Forget I said anything. Hey, how bout we bail after these?" Morgan couldn't fend off girls all night who had no interest in Reid as a person and only wanted him for sex. The others might suggest that maybe he should just let Reid get laid, but there was the aftermath to consider. Reid was the kind of person who liked to get attached. How would he react after he got home with the girl and she wanted to move too fast and then got mad when he was nervous? Or what if she went his speed but afterward she never called or never wanted to listen to Reid rant?

"Oh alright."

Wouldn't that be worse? Hadn't Reid had enough heartache already with his limited experience? Lila the actress, Austen the bartender, and the geneticist Maeve Donovan... Morgan shook his head. Reid always put his whole heart into the people he loved. Why waste that on a one night stand?

"You know," Reid said, half of his drink gone somehow. Morgan swallowed and looked down at his bottle, which was still mostly full. He hoped Reid hadn't somehow gotten more drinks than him while he wasn't paying attention. He didn't want to get the genius drunk, just to get him relaxed. "I'm not as blind as you think I am."

"You think so?"

"Yeah." Reid leaned his elbows on the counter and glanced up at the screen above the bar where a football game was going on. "The woman eight seats away has been looking over here for half an hour, considering if she wants to come talk. There's another one behind me about thirty feet who laughs every time I stop talking in case I'm saying something funny, and the girl from before was trying to pick me up. Her eyes were dilated and her body temperature was several degrees too high. I mean, maybe she had a cold, but she seemed healthy to me."

"Oooooh, color me surprised, pretty boy," Morgan said and whistled, glancing behind them for the third woman. Yep. Just as Reid said. "Guess you're a hot commodity tonight."

Reid lowered his head and smiled, embarrassment leaking out in a laugh. "I'm pretty sure it's not me. You're sitting next to me. Chances are they'll all after you instead."

"Nah. It's all you, Reid. Don't sell yourself short. Besides, even if they were looking at me, which they aren't, I'm not looking for anyone these days," Morgan assured. He tapped his middle finger on his bottle and shrugged.

"Seriously?" Reid pushed his drink back slightly. "Why the change?"

"I'm looking for something a bit more solid. You know, like maybe something that'll last. Although with our jobs, it's unlikely." Morgan shook his head and took a long swig.

"Yeah, just inside our team, the only one with a successful relationship is JJ. Hotch lost his wife, but I think he has a new girlfriend, doesn't he? Becky? Britney?" Reid tried to guess.

"Beth," Morgan corrected and then chuckled. "You really can't remember names well without having them written down, can you?"

"Not true. I remember the names that matter," Reid said, sipping his drink. Morgan watched him with a smile for a minute and then closed his eyes and shook his head.

"Yeah you do, don't you?" He took a deep breath.

Reid was smiling at him too, something familiar and intimate that only came from years of close interaction. Morgan wanted to frame that look forever. He wanted Reid to know that even though that girl hadn't thought his explanation of the 47 Ronin was actually interesting, Morgan had. He'd sent that girl away to protect Reid but also because he was jealous – he cared more for Reid than that girl ever would.

Morgan pat Reid's shoulder. "So how about I pick you up tonight instead? Wanna head back to my place and watch the Discovery Channel? Clooney misses you," he said.

Reid laughed. "Sure. I miss him too. Been awhile since we used to marathon the Egypt documentaries while you ran errands or visited your family."

"I think you like him more because The Reid Effect doesn't work with him." He'd been silly tonight. There was no need for jealousy when it came to Reid. He may notice flirting, but that didn't mean he responded to it.

"No." Reid shook his head. "His indifference is a conditioned response. It doesn't count. I like him because he's big and warm and I can lay on him while I watch."

"Pick a good one tonight and maybe I'll lay down with you too," Morgan teased as he directed his attention up to the TV over the bar where a baseball game was showing.

"Right."

Morgan was so distracted by the TV and the fly ball that was almost too far to the right to count that he missed the look Reid had him pinned with, the one that said he was deep in serious thought but also recounting sweet memories. The viewers of the game erupted in displeasure as the ball was ruled as a strike.

"We could all cuddle together and watch The Discovery Channel," he suggested after the hollering from the bar customers died away.

Morgan was chuckling at the TV but then he smiled and nodded his head at Reid, his eyes darting in the other's direction to lock with Reid's eyes.

"Yeah. Yeah we could."

And they toasted each other with their drinks.


End file.
